What a start as 8x10km Parkinson’s fundraiser passes £14,000

It was a glorious Sunday morning along Welshpool’s stunning canal as runners, walkers and even paddlers launched this year’s 8x10km Challenge to raise money for Parkinson’s Cymru.

And prior to the event's official launch by Town Mayor, Cllr Phil Owen, founder Philip Owen revealed that a whopping £14,000 had been raised so far.

The challenge is to cover 10km a day for the next eight days with it finishing at the Welshpool 10k next Sunday.

And it was a colourful launch from Morrisons Car Park this morning with participants running 5kms down the canal, and back.

“It’s been a great start and I would like to thank everyone who took part,” said Phil (pictured). “We have already raised £14,000, which added to last year’s amount means we have now raised £25,000 from the challenge’s two editions. A brilliant achievement.”

The Challenge moves on to Newtown on Monday evening, where members of the Maldwyn Harriers will be tackling 10k, before further events are held at schools and other locations for the rest of the week.

The full list is below.

There will be a full album of photographs, taken by Phil Blagg, featuring on MyWelshpool’s Facebook page this evening.

You can donate to the challenge by clicking here